Tory Minister Told To 'Grow Up' On BBC After Attack On Jeremy Corbyn

Conservative security minister John Hayes was told repeatedly to "grow up" on Wednesday morning, after he attacked Jeremy Corbyn as being a "threat" to national security.

David Cameron and the Conservatives moved quickly after Corbyn's election to try and paint the Labour leader as a security threat. "We cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love," the prime minister told the Tory conference earlier this month.

The line of criticism was repeated by Hayes on BBC 2's Daily Politics programme today as he sparred with shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant.

The pair talked over each other as presenter Andrew Neil looked on.

Hayes said: "The truth of the matter is you’ve now got a leader that is a threat to our national security because he is against Nato, he is against trident and he is against every single security measure."

Neil told Hayes: "I was about to come back and ask a specific question to find out more about Mr Corbyn's position but because you decided to move on to Nato and extraneous matters that had nothing to do with out conversation, I've run out of time."

ADVERTISEMENT

He added: "Sometimes you've been your own worse enemy on these matters."

Bryant turned down the job of shadow defence secretary following Corbyn's election as leader. He has acknowledged he "profoundly" disagrees with the Labour leader on issues such as Russia and Nato.

At the the time the reshuffle took place, it was reported Bryant insisted on "a 30-minute conversation about what would happen if we had to invade Russia" before considering taking up the post - a request that was turned down.